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Quek Jia Qi is an artist, educator, and systems thinker whose work reimagines how art can function in public life.From hospital lobbies, schools, and train viaducts to parks and city streets, Jia Qi is interested in how art, when intertwined with pedagogy, can help us expand how we connect and learn together, widening access beyond traditional art and education spaces. Across her work, Jia Qi shifts the role of the public from audience to co-author, designing participatory encounters that invite people to rethink how we might better relate, care, and learn with one another. Working collaboratively across communities and disciplines, she create participatory public art and learning systems that transform everyday spaces into platforms for collective authorship, care and civic imagination.
Jia Qi is currently an artist-in-residence at the Singapore Art Museum (Community & Education Residency). In 2025, she was the first artist commissioned under the National Arts Council × Land Transport Authority Art Under Viaduct Spaces initiative, where she reimagined the public infrastructure beneath the train tracks for community storytelling through its neighbourhood material culture through A Living Museum for Bukit Gombak. She was also recently commissioned for the Brent Biennial 2025 in London, supported by the National Arts Council Singapore to create a cross-cultural artistic project that reimagines community-led ways of learning in A Mobile Library for Collective Knowledge. Her work has been presented internationally across Asia, the U.K., the U.S., and Europe, bringing people across generations into acts of co-creation that blend art, pedagogy, and civic imagination. Recent works include Bring Your Own Racket (BYOR), a 46-metre public interactive installation that transformed Singapore’s Central Business District into a site for communal play and encounter during Singapore Art Week 2026; Pharmacy of Play, which turned a hospital lobby into a site for intergenerational care and play. Workbook of Everyday Instructions, an experiential workshop and book that explores how visually impaired and sighted experiences can meet through shared everyday routines; Open Assignment, a participatory exhibition reimagining community-led learning through assignments, reframing pedagogy as an artistic practice. Alongside her artistic practice, Jia Qi is an educator shaping learning cultures across schools, tertiary, and community settings. She has taught and spoken locally and internationally on socially engaged art, interdisciplinary practice, and creative agency. She also advocates for children’s voices through Playeum, championing for children to thrive as the best versions of themselves through play and the arts. She received the Social Art Award from the Institute for Art and Innovation in 2017 and holds a BA (First-Class) in Fine Art & History of Art from Goldsmiths, University of London. |
PUBLIC ART & EXHIBITIONS2026
Between Tides & Ties National Museum of Singapore in collaboration with NTUC Health Senior Day Care (Bukit Merah) and My First Skool Preschool Bring Your Own Racket (BYOR) Discover Tanjong Pagar Community Green, Singapore Art Week 2026, supported by the National Arts Council in collaboration with Aaron Lim 2025 A Mobile Library for Collective Knowledge, Brent Biennial 2025 Brent Biennial 2025 - AIR Ritual, Westminster University, London, UK, supported by the National Arts Council in collaboration with Aaron Lim Pharmacy of Play Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, as part of 'Play Well!', Arts&Health Festival 2025 in collaboration with Ng Teng Fong General Hospital (NTFGH), Jurong Health, NTUC Health Active Ageing Centre (Taman Jurong) and Tasek Academy and Social Services, Singapore Open Assignment Participatory Exhibition, Art Outreach Singapore, Gillman Barracks, Singapore in collaboration with Aaron Lim and contributors to Open Assignment A Living Museum for Bukit Gombak Public Art Installation at Under Viaduct of Bukit Gombak Train Station, as part of the first public art commission for NACxLTA Art Under Viaduct Spaces, Singapore in collaboration with residents of Bukit Gombak Field Notes for Encountering Nature Public Interactive Installation, Jurong Lake Gardens Entrance Pavilion, Singapore in collaboration with Aaron Lim, and workshop participants of Field Notes Collage Workshop 2024 First Flight in collaboration with Aaron Lim, Public interactive installation at Armenian Street, as part of Singapore Night Festival 2024 2023 Kuti Kuti? Playground Radin Mas Community Club, as part of Singapore Art Week 2023 x PAssionArts x Arts in Your Neighbourhood, supported by National Arts Council Singapore and People's Association. 2022 As You Were National Arts Council Public Art Initiative, Bishan-AMK Park, SG Aedge Exhibition 2022 School of the Arts Singapore (SOTA) Art Gallery organised by Singapore Teachers' Academy for the aRts (STAR) 2020 A Picnic In Apart [Virtual] AAA Till We Meet Again IRL Digital Programme, supported by Arts Council England & Bagri Foundation Field Trip to Redhill (Archifest 2020 Edition) [Virtual] collaborated with Design Singapore Associates, Myths on a Red Hill and City Sprouts Field Trip to Redhill [Virtual] collaborated with Design Singapore Associates, Myths on a Red Hill and MyCommunity Kopi & Myths Myths on a Red Hill, Singapore 2019 PARK(ing) Day 2019 Tan Quee Lan Street, Singapore Goldsmiths BAFAHA Degree Show 2019 Goldsmiths, University of London, United Kingdom Public Programmes: Power Walks Serpentine Galleries, London, United Kingdom Bind MOKU Pacific HQ, Raven Row, London, United Kingdom Raven Row Open House Asia-Art-Activism, Raven Row, London, United Kingdom Diaspora Disco The Glove That Fits, London, United Kingdom Bind Asia-Art-Activism, Raven Row, London, United Kingdom SEACurrents 2019 Raven Row, London, United Kingdom Oceans*A*Part Raven Row, London, United Kingdom Diaspora Disco The Yard Theatre, London, United Kingdom 2018 UnAuthorised Medium: Intense Visitations FramerFramed, Amsterdam, Netherlands Dumplings & Dialogue Raven Row, London, United Kingdom FLOW LIVE #1: Contract With the Skin Raven Row, London, United Kingdom No Image - International Exhibition CICA Museum, South Korea Untitled (Goodnight Stranger) AGORA, Berlin, Germany Is This Seat Taken? Outside Whitney Museum, New York, USA Untitled (Grieving in New York City) West 23rd Street, New York, USA Shifting Intimacies RAW, Singapore TEDxCambridgeUniversity xHibits Cambridge University, United Kingdom Hit Me Baby, One More Time London, United Kingdom Conversations in Singapore History 2018 Kings College London, London, United Kingdom No Naked Flames 2 Goldsmiths, University of London, United Kingdom 2017 Stir-fry: An exhibition London, United Kingdom And Everything In Between: Disciplines in Dialogues London, United Kingdom Social Art Award No.1 WHITECONCEPTS Gallery Berlin, Germany Shifting Concretes: Can We “Lepak” Better at Orchard Road? Orchard Road, Singapore Creative Debuts x The Black & White Building, Black and White Building, Shoreditch London, United Kingdom 2016 Seven Deadly SINs Exhibition Capitol Piazza Singapore, Singapore A-OK Mindroll Art Exhibition Goldsmiths', University of London London, United Kingdom SOUND & LANGUAGE EXHIBITION Special Collections Archive, Goldsmiths Library London, United Kingdom A Journey Away From Urban Life 5th Base Gallery London, United Kingdom 2024 Singapore Youth Festival Art Exhibition 2014 LASALLE College of the Arts The Institute of Contemporary Art Singapore (ICAS) Galleries 1 & 2 and the Trispace, Singapore 2023 La Viva Art Exhibition Goodman Arts Centre Singapore |
TALKS, CONFERENCES & WORKSHOPS2026
Risk, Play, and Civic Possibility: Designing Shared Learning to Grow Student Agency and Creative Confidence Redesigning Pedagogy International Conference 2026 AI Playground: Powering a Total Learning Community at Scale Tech Summit@SST Lab School 2026 Intergenerational Community Art Workshop: Between Tides and Ties National Museum of Singapore, in collaboration with NTUC Health Senior Day Care (Bukit Merah) and My First Skool Preschool Artist Talk: Reimagining Access in Community Arts Practice Singapore Art Museum and National University of Singapore Artist Talk & Tour: BYOR Bring Your Own Racket Singapore Art Week 2026 BYOR Play Test: Open Rules for the City Singapore Art Week 2026 2025 Brent Biennial 2025: AIR Ritual – Asia Forum: Exploring diaspora narratives Hosted by the Asia Forum for the Contemporary Art of Global Asias, supported by the Bagri Foundation, University of Westminster, London, United Kingdom Brent Biennial 2025 AIR Ritual - Living Knowledge University of Westminster, London, United Kingdom Artist Talk & Workshop: Learning Otherwise Goldsmiths, University of London, United Kingdom Pharmacy of Play Ng Teng Fong General Hospital in collaboration with Arts&Health by Jurong Health Campus, with seniors from NTUC Health Active Ageing Centre (Taman Jurong) and youths from Tasek Interdisciplinary Arts as Social Practice: Sound and Vision Teachers' Conference and ExCEL Festival 2025 Field Notes for Encountering Nature Co-Creation Activity in collaboration with Aaron Lim, as part of Arts@Jurong Lake Gardens. 2024 Ways of Seeing: Embracing differences through observations of our everyday encounters in collaboration with Rendi Toh, Co:creation Workshop, as part of Our Time To Shine, supported by National Arts Council Singapore. 2023 Kuti Kuti? Playground Artists Chit Chat Radin Mas Community Club, as part of Singapore Art Week 2023 x PAssionArts x Arts in Your Neighbourhood, supported by National Arts Council Singapore and People's Association. Teaching through Inquiry: Connecting the dots between art & contemporary issues Teachers' Conference and ExCEL Festival 2025 2022 Intergenerational Community Art Workshop: Kuti Kuti? Maker Lab Bukit Merah Community Club, as part of Singapore Art Week 2023 x PAssionArts x Arts in Your Neighbourhood, supported by National Arts Council Singapore and People's Association. Mapping with Sounds Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park, as part of National Arts Council "As You Were" Public Programmes 2022 Arts in Education Forum 2022 School Of The Arts, Singapore, supported by Temasek Foundation 2021 Roundtable: Structures of Care: Ways of Knowing, Being, Working A New Season of Care, curated by Annie Jael Kwan, supported by National Arts Council Singapore 2020 Artist Talk Panel: Politics and Practices of Care AAA Till We Meet Again IRL Digital Programme, supported by Arts Council England & Bagri Foundation 2019 Ground-up Initiatives: Artist Talk AA Asia, Zarch Collaboratives, Singapore Archifest 2019, Singapore AAA Sharing for MA Curating Contemporary Art, Royal College of Art, London, United Kingdom Artist Workshop for BA Curating, Goldsmiths' University of London BA Curating, Goldsmiths' University of London, London, United Kingdom Serpentine Education and Projects, Public Programmes: Power Walks Serpentine Galleries, London, United Kingdom AAA Sharing Session: Artist Talk Raven Row, London, United Kingdom 2018 Interdisciplinary Symposium, Conversations in Singapore History 2018 Kings College London, London, United Kingdom Arts for Social Good Creatives x Alternatives Programme '18, Skillseed Singapore London, United Kingdom 2017 The Little Things Book Launch Tampines National Library, Singapore Shifting Concretes, Discipline The City 2017, The Substation, Singapore Arts for Social Good Creatives x Alternatives Programme '17, Skillseed Singapore London, United Kingdom 2016 Higher Education and Careers Symposium '16 Dunman High School, Singapore 2015 Higher Education and Careers Symposium '15 Dunman High School, Singapore ARTIST & RESEARCH RESIDENCIESSAM Residencies (Education and Community)
Singapore Art Museum Singapore Asia-Art-Activism Research Residency Raven Row London, UK AFFECT Residency for Collaborative Artistic Practices Agora Collective e.V. Berlin, Germany City as Site: Performance and Social Interventions Summer Residency, School of Visual Arts, New York, USA PUBLIC PROGRAMME AND CURATINGMyths on a Redhill
CitySprouts, Singapore Serpentine Education and Projects, Public Programmes: Power Walks Serpentine Galleries, London, United Kingdom Interdisciplinary Symposium, Conversations in Singapore History 2018 Kings College London, London, United Kingdom And Everything In Between London, United Kingdom The Little Things Book Launch in collaboration with Jiezhen Wu and Tampines Kindness Movement Tampines National Library, Singapore Shifting Concretes in collaboration with Karen Lam and The Substation Singapore Discipline The City Programme Workshop Series, The Substation Ltd Singapore, Singapore Your Familiar Stranger Very Special Arts (VSA), Singapore, Singapore WRITINGS / PUBLICATIONSPerforming Normal: An invitation to Move Differently - on care as a relational act
Singapore Asia Art Activism: Experiments in Care & Collective Disobedience London, UK Lessons From Caring For House Plants During The Pandemic According To An Artist And Plant Mum Female Magazine, Singapore A Desire to Take Care: Lessons from caring for houseplants during the pandemic Home & Decor, Singapore A Desire to Care BRACK, COVID Companions feature Singapore AAA Reflection: The Gift of Radical Domesticity London, UK Indigo Magazine #2: Cities London, UK Cross talk: a halfway point, a sidebar reflection Collaboratively written text for 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art Sydney, Australia The Little Things - A Book about Kindness Children's Book Singapore The Social Art Award 2017 - Invigorating the Rise of Social Art The Institute of Art and Innovation e.V. Berlin, Germany ACCOLADESSocial Art Award
The Institute for Art and Innovation e.V., The Gold Award Goldsmiths, University of London, UK 3rd Runner-Up in Young Artists Category Singapore Airlines Open House & Art Competition 2015, Singapore Honourable Mention Singapore Youth Festival Art Exhibition, Singapore Most Photogenic Design Award National Azimuth NDP Watch Design Competition supported by DesignSingapore Council Finalist National Azimuth NDP Watch Design Competition supported by DesignSingapore Council 3rd Prize Singapore Youth Photographers Convention, Singapore |